Plastic foam and
refrigerators damage the ozone layer

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have
many technical uses; as cooling media in e.g.
refrigerators and air conditioners, in the
manufacture of plastic foam and formerly as
propellants in spray cans. Because they are
chemically stable and non-poisonous CFCs have been
considered ideal from the environmental
viewpoint.

Mario Molina and
Sherwood Rowland showed in 1974 that CFC gases
are transported up to the ozone layer, where they
meet such intense ultraviolet light that they
decompose. The liberated chlorine atoms contribute to
a depletion of the ozone layer.